Button-holder for button-sewing machines



(No Model.)

J. MATHISON. BUTTON HOLDER FOR BUTTON SEWING MACHINES.

No. 426,293. Patented Apr. 22, 1890.

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JOSEPH MATHISON, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

BUTTON-HOLDER FOR BUTTON-SEWING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 426,293, dated April 22, 1890.

Application filed April 9, 1889. Serial No. 306,548. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JosEPH MArHIsoN, of Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ButtonlIolders for Button'Sewin g Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for sewing on shanked buttons-such as are used for butt0n-boots-and it has particular relation to the type of machine shown in Letters Patent of the United States No. 336,880, dated February 23, 1886.

The invention has for its object to enable the buttons to be presented one at a time by an operator or attendant to the needle, which passes through the eye of the button and draws a loop of thread therethrough, without the use of button-supplying mechanism such as is shown in said patent; and to this end it consists, mainly, in a button-sewing-machine presser-foot having an upwardly-projecting thin-edged jaw formed to support the shank or eye of a shoe-button, an car at one end of said jaw, a movable jaw pivoted to said ear, and a spring whereby the movable jaw is closed upon the fixed jaw, as I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a portion of a button-sewing machine having my improvement. Fig. 2 represents a rear elevation of the presscrfoot and its button-holding jaw. Fig. 3 represents an end elevation of the presser-foot and jaw. Fig. 4 represents a section on line 03 a, Fig. 2.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

The machine shown in the drawings is identical in construction,excepting as to the button-supplyin g means, with that shown in Let ters Patent No. 336,880, above referred to, and while I do not desire to be understood as limiting the employment of the hereinaftendescribed improvements to said machine I refer to said patent for a full description of the construction an d operation of a good and practical machine to which my present improvements are applicable.

In the drawings, B represents the worksupporting arm, containing the thread-carrier and tension devices.

E represents the neck or arm of the machine, which supports the needle-bar F, the presser-bar j, and the cast-off bar C, said neck or arm being located over the work-supporting arm. The needle and cast-off bars are supported in a carrier, which is reciprocated 011 guides or ways in the neck E to give the needle its work-feeding movements. The presser-bar j is alternately pressed downward upon the work to hold the same upon the wee die-plate D and raised to release the work by the mechanism described in the patent above referred to. The presser-foot 7.: is affixed to the presser-barj, and is composed of the arms 2 3, which are separated by a slot or way, along which the needle moves in feeding the work and through which the buttons are moved by the needle, as described in said patcnt.

As already indicated, the parts thus far described are fully shown and described in the patent above mentioned, and a full description of their construction and operation is therefore deemed unnecessary.

In carrying out my invention I provide the presser-foot with a thin-edged button-holding jaw a, which is pivoted at b to the outer end of the arm 3 of the presser-foot, said arm having an ear 0 formed on it to receive the pivot Z) and a fixed thin-edged jaw or ridge (1 formed to co-operate with the jaw a in grasping a button-shank, as presently described, said jaws being vertically arranged, so that they hold the button-shank horizontally. The jaw a is normally held against the fixed jaw d by a spring 5, one end of which is attached to the jaw a and the other end to the presserfoot. The lower edge of the jaw a has a recess or concavity a near the pivoted end of the jaw to permit the easy insertion of the button-shanks between the two jaws. It is obvious, however, that said concavity may be formed in the lower jaw, or that each jaw may have a concavity, the two concavities coinciding.

lVhen the machine is in operation, the operator of the machine or an attendant inserts the shank of a button into the concavity a and moves said shank toward the outer end of the jaw on until the eye or open portion of the shank is in position to receive the descending needle, the shank when it reaches said position being firmly grasped and held by the two j aws,which are of such thickness that when the head of the button bears against the rear sides of the jaws the eye will project from the front sides of said jaws sufficiently to receive the needle when the latter is descending to engage the thread and draw a loop of the same through the eye of the button. The button is thus held by the jaws while the loop is being drawn through its eye. After said loop is formed the needle is moved laterally, and then descends outside of the eye of the button, engages the thread, and draws a second loop through the material and through the first loop.

The general operation of securing the button to the material is the same as in the abovementioned patent and need not be here described.

It will be seen that by this simple attachment the operator or attendant is enabled to supply buttons to the machine as they may be required.

I claim A button-sewing-machine presser-foot having an upwardly-projecting thin-edged jaw formed to support the shank or eye of a shoebutton, an ear at one end of said jaw, a movable jaw pivoted to said ear, and a spring whereby the movable jaw is closed upon the fixed jaw, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 29th day of March, A. D. 1889.

JOSEPH MATHISON.

Witnesses:

O. F. BROWN, A. D. HARRISON. 

